The southwest hinterland is one of the relatively well-preserved and pristine areas of China's ecology, where a large number of wild animals live. Among the 12 species of wild cats in China, there are 7 species living in Xinlong County, Sichuan alone.
In the animal world, the cat family has a unique charm, they are beautiful and powerful, elegant and charming, attracting a large number of people around the world.
In some barren mountains in the northwest of Sichuan, there lives a very mysterious "wild cat", called "desert cat", also known as "Chinese bobcat", there have always been stories about it in the local area, but never seen any video data, and later people finally photographed it for the first time on a 3570-meter barren mountain in Sichuan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > like a cat and like a lynx, and mysterious</h1>
The desert cat is a species in the cat subfamily Cat genus, the second largest in the cat genus, after the jungle cat, weighing 6.5-9 kg as an adult, and the male is slightly larger than the female.
Desert cats look like cats and lynx, but are generally more cat-oriented, the most obvious feature is that the tip of the ear has a shorter tuft of hair than the lynx, the tail has a black ring, and the tip of the tail is completely black.
Due to the habitat, the desert cat's hair is thick and long, with soft fuzz under the coat, the coat color is mostly brownish gray or sand yellow, and the back has dark longitudinal stripes that are not very obvious.
People always have a high degree of attention to big cats, and there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for small cats, and the desert cat is one of the "most low-key" ones, and even many people still hear the name for the first time. Probably related to their own habits, desert cats like to live on some rarely inhabited barren mountains.
It has the same habits as most cats, alert and stealthy, has a nocturnal movement, generally rests during the day, and comes out to forage for food at night, and actively avoids humans.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > lives on high mountains, rarely at low altitudes</h1>
Desert cats are unique cats in China, are national first-class protected animals, and are also one of the most mysterious cats. As you can see from the name, the favorite environmental type of this feline is the wild mountains, and it does not like the green mountains and beautiful land.
But what needs to be known is that everyone should not be misled by the word "desert", in the real desert area, there is no desert cat distribution. Because of the desert and bare rock areas, the plants are poor, it is difficult to carry a large number of small mammals, and it is naturally difficult to feed desert cats.
To be precise, they prefer to inhabit some semi-desolate alpine meadows at altitudes of 2500-5000 meters, and desert cats are high-altitude species and rarely live at low altitudes.
According to existing records, the distribution of desert cats in China is mainly in Gannan, western Sichuan, eastern Qinghai and northeastern Qinghai Plateau.
As for the desert cats mentioned in some articles in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and other regions, there is a lack of corresponding authoritative records. In fact, it is not difficult to understand when you think about it, if there are desert cats in many provinces, then the probability of being observed by people is also greater, can they still be so mysterious?
Like snow leopards, because desert cats are high-altitude species, it is difficult for ordinary low-altitude zoos to keep them, which is the main reason why it is difficult to see them in zoos.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="35" > feeds on rats and has excellent hunting ability</h1>
As a member of the cat genus, the desert cat has more skills than domestic cats in the ability to hunt rats. In the diet of desert cats, small rodents account for more than 90% of the proportion, and in some areas with high density of rodents, this proportion can even reach 98%, so desert cats can also be called the nemesis of the rat generation.
In addition to rodents, small animals such as birds and reptiles are also the daily prey objects of desert cats. In the western region, the distribution of desert cats is almost closely related to the distribution of these small animals.
The desert cat is a natural hunter, and in its habitat, almost all small animals are its prey. Desert cats can take different hunting methods according to different prey, different seasons, and different terrains.
In early spring, when everything is waiting to recover, the highland weasel is still hiding in the burrow and has not come out, and the desert cat's eagle-like claws are not suitable for digging, so it is difficult to plan out the prey. So the clever desert cat used its developed sense of smell to lock the cave of the highland mole, and then used its claws to pry open the shallow soil layer on the cave, and then waited quietly here.
After a while, the plateau mole found that the opening of the cave was damaged, so it came out to repair it, and the desert cat saw the opportunity, grabbed it, and then ate a good meal.
As the second largest species in the genus Cat, the Desert Cat sometimes contains larger mammals in its prey, and when preying on such animals, it bites from the head and neck like a tiger. In winter, rodents are scarce, and desert cats run to the edge of the cliff to hunt for birds.
The whole hunting process of the desert cat is very efficient, does not need to consume too much energy, because its main prey is a large number of rats, which is very beneficial to agricultural production, so the desert cat is also known as "Mr. Agricultural Friendly", is a beneficial animal.